Accademia Gallery

Florence's Accademia Gallery (Galleria dell'Accademia) sits second on most itineraries, right after the fabulous Uffizi. The collection at the Accademia can't compare to the Uffizi in terms of size or variety, but it has one must-see sight that ...

It's nice to take a guided tour of the Uffizi especially, because there is so much there and the guide highlights all the big things in a relatively short time. The tour of the Uffizi isn't very long, but you can stay inside as long as you like when it finishes. The morning walking tour was very good. Very organized. Be on time even better a few minutes early as the tours leave immediately to make their entrance times at the Accademia and Uffizi.

Excellect tour Walking Tour which included the Accademia Gallery. Tour guide Ray was entertaining and informative. Have seen the statute of David twice before, but this time I learnt so much more from our guide.
Uffizi Gallery was Ok, this tour guidejust went through the script.

Enjoyed the walking tour of Florence. If you are new to the city, I would highly recommend. It allowed us to get our bearings and a good feel of the city. The guide was informative and we learned a lot about the history. It also gave us direct entry into the Duomo and Accademia Gallery as opposed to waiting on lengthy lines, as it was the height of the season. I liked that we were outfitted with headsets so that we could hear the guide clearly even when we were not standing right near her.

Paul, our tour guide, was the best guide we've had in 3 weeks in Europe on this trip. He was entertaining and educational, and gave insight and meaning to the many things we were seeing. I had been to Florence before, but now I get so much more! The skip the line part didn't work so well getting into the Accademia to see the David, but Paul spoke to someone after we had been waiting for some time, and then we got right in. The Duomo was closed due to it being a Florentine holiday -- would have been nice to know when we booked it. Aside from those two negatives, it was a great tour, and we certainly recommend Paul as a guide.

That's you only hope for entering Accademia and Uffizi without waiting forever. Both tour guides are perfect. In the Florence Walking Tour part, the guide took us to the most important locations and told us very interesting historical facts about them.

If you only have one day to see Florence, I don't think you can get a better tour than this one. It guides you through the most important sites in Florence and gets you quickly into the two most important Museums Accademia and Uffizi which were utterly amazing. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable.
In the morning you visit Accademia which is a relatively small museum where the statue of David is. During the visit the guide walks you through the museum pointing out the most important pieces. You also have about 30 min on your own in Accademia. From there you are guided through the important sites in Florence including the Florence Dome. You have about 1.5 hours to have lunch on your own. The afternoon tour starts at the location where the morning one ends, so you don't have to find the new meeting point which is always my issue. In the afternoon you visit Uffizi, which is much larger museum than Accademia. Your guide will again guide you through the museum, but there is just no way to see it all. The tour starts and ends in Uffizi. and you are allowed to remain in Uffizi on your own for the rest of the afternoon to explore what the guide did not get to.

we had 2 different guides, one for the Academia and another for the Uffizi. Both spoke perfect English and both were absolutely fantastic. The young, enthusiastic woman for the Accademia gave us a wonderful taste of the museum away from the room with the David and the Slaves. She built up interest and energy and anticipation before we entered the room with David. Really fun and very informative.

The Viator connection in Florence were wonderful in that I had mixed up the dates of our reservation and they took care of it on the spot with a smile! I would recommend them again. David was the highlight of the Accademia and our tour guide was helpful but seemed a little unsure of herself. The tour guide for the Uffizi was a different person. He was outstanding and made this museum come to life! it was great that these 2 tours were several hour apart from each other to break up the day!

This was a split tour which I did not realize - the Uffizi and the Corridor were first thing in the morning and the Accademia was at 4pm. The guide was very good, very knowledgeable and we all enjoyed the tour. There is a great deal of walking on this tour so be prepared. The Corridor was new for me and I loved it. This is a good tour.

This is a great tour of the major sites of Florence including the Duomo, the Basilica, Uffizi, Accademia Michelangelo's David, Piazza Republica.... you name it. Our guides Federica a.m. and Vanessa p.m. were terrific. Very knowledgable and plenty of personality. The tour is thorough but not overwhelming and paced well. Tip the guides. Most do not but the guides are very appreciative of those who do.

Wow, we knew there was a lot to see in Florence but really had no idea how much. Both our guides for the Accademia and Uffizzi Gallery were knowledgeable and entertaining. Our guide in the afternoon at the Uffizi Gallery had a great sense of humor and set expectations well focusing on Florentine/Italian history and artists. We definitely recommend this tour with the lunch.

We met our guide, Chiara, for a private walking tour around Florence. Chiara studied art history and has been giving tours of Florence for 19 years. Another amazing tour guide, who speaks Italian, English, French, Spanish, and German though she doesn't give tours in German, she admitted and is learning Portuguese. The knowledge she shared about the history of the city, the powerful Medici family, and the breathtaking artwork in Florence really provided great perspective and background.

We visited the Piazza del Duomo - when approaching it is quite a shock, come from in between two buildings toward the square, step out into the open and boom! there is 3rd largest church in the world, which was 5 times bigger than any other church in the world when it was built starting in 1296.

We next walked to the Galleria dell'Accademia, which contains work by Ghiotto, some by Botticelli, 4 incomplete works by Michelangelo, and the prize of the Accademia, Michelangelo's David. We were lucky again to be here in the off season, as the crowds were not bad, and we were able to leisurely enjoy the room containing Michelangelo's works and discuss the David with our great tour guide.

Also located in the Academia, in a wing nearly empty most people go to the small museum just to see David, is a musical instrument museum. It was a small exhibit, but included several instruments made by well known luthiers such as Amati, Guarneri, and, of course, Stradivari. Of several of Stradivari's instruments on display, the most interesting is a one-of-a-kind tenor viola, made for you guessed it the wealthy Medici family.

Overall it was a fantastic tour with a fantastic guide. Chiara was very friendly and had a great knowledge of the artwork and history of the area. My Dad and I both commented that while we could have seen all of these things on our own, we would not have gotten much out of them without an expert guide. It makes all the difference. Thanks for a great tour!

Skipping the lines was great and I really liked the headsets used so that we could stand comfortably near without having to crowd around the guide to hear what was being said. I would have liked a little extra time in the Uffizi Gallery after the guided tour....would suggest starting that one 30-60 minutes earlier that would still leave plenty of time to wander the Accademia and get lunch before meeting at the Uffizi. Overall, great tours with interesting guides.

This tour was amazing! Of course the Accademia has the main highlight: David. But the Uffizi is huge and the tour is longer than expected, plus you'll get a chance to see more famous paintings. I definitely recommend this one!

absolutely brilliant tour thanks to the guide, who initially seemed a bit reticent but ratcheted up the ante and took off to produce one of the best tours of the Uffizi gallery. The lady for the accademia was good too but could not hold a candle to the other man.
Strongly recommend this to any one needing a guide!!

What an amazing city! The people were super friendly and accommodating. The Accademia Gallery was very nice. I actually missed my departure time on the ticket and they still accepted it. You will still have to get another ticket from the one you print out from the e-mail they send you. However, the place to do that is literally right around the corner from the gallery. DEFINITELY purchase the skip the line pass because the line was outrageously long! I was inside in less than three minutes. The statue of David was a lot taller than I expected. I would go here just to see that! Breathtaking!

Excellent and a wonderful tour by Ana for both Accademia and the Uffizi. The statue of David was magnificent and the Uffizi was a wonderful collection started by the Medici family. A must for anyone traveling to Florence.

Excellent tours.
Angelo was our morning host and his knowledge of Michelangelo, the Accademia, the Duomo and other historic sites was excellent. My three children thought he has been the best guide so far and we have been on 7 tours since arriving in Italy 10 days ago!
Rosa's tour of the Uffizi was

Great tour, great guides. It is not the fault of the tour but we were a little tired out by the time we did the Uffizi gallery tour. I think we would have enjoyed it more if we did it on a different day than the Accademia and the walking tour. If you have time try to split them up!

A great day touring a few of the 'must see' spots in Florence. The Accademia Gallery, and specifically the statue of David, is spectacular. Authorities only officially permitted taking photos (no flash) in the gallery recently so we were able to take some great photos of The David and other impressive works of art by Michelangelo and other artists/sculptures.
The Uffizi Gallery was also impressive and our guide there was very informative and used humour to share interesting tidbits of history with us.
By far one of the best advantages of taking these tours was the ability to bypass the very long lines of 'non-guided' tourists whom were waiting to get inside. It would have been almost impossible to see both these museums on the same day without the guided tour 'skip the line' entrance.

The Accademia was all about seeing 'DAVID' and it was so nice not having to stand in line. We were traveling in a group and many who had not gotten tickets ahead of time gave up getting into the Academia and the Ufizi Galleries because of the lines.